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������ Tri-Cities digital technology and culture student Kyle Kopta.

For more than 80 years, Washington State University has recognized ten of the top seniors in each graduating class. The ������ Alumni Association selects these women and men who represent the highest standards in specific aspects of the college experience, including academics, athletics, campus involvement, community service, and visual and performing arts.

Kyle Kopta, a senior studying digital technology and culture at ������ Tri-Cities, was selected as a ������ Top Ten Senior for the category of visual/performing arts.

He is a talented graphic designer, photographer, videographer, writer and overall creative. He serves as an intern with the Office of Marketing and Communication, served as a graphic designer for the Associated Students of ������ Tri-Cities, serves as a DTC lab tutor, as well as on the Washington State Arts Commission. He transferred to ������ Tri-Cities from Blue Mountain Community College.

VISUAL/PERFORMING ARTS

• College of Arts and Sciences
• Digital technology and culture
• ������ Tri-Cities
• Hermiston, Oregon

INVOLVEMENT

Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society; President’s Honors List, summa cum laude; ASWUTC Perseverance Award; Douglas P. Gast Fine Arts Scholarship; member, committee of the Washington State Arts Commission overseeing the Washington State Art Collection; graphic designer for AS������TC; marketing intern for ������ Tri-Cities; teacher’s assistant and tutor in the ; host of biweekly community radio show; and ������ Tri-Cities Student Employee of the Year for the 2020-2021 academic year

Photograph “Dance Dance” by Kyle Kopta, ������ Tri-Cities digital technology and culture student.

FAVORITE ������ EXPERIENCE

The ������ Tri-Cities Undergraduate Research Symposium and Art Exhibition is held at the end of each semester. What stands out most to me is really those shows. Our students are making just incredible work. I helped put it on when we were in-person. Being able to showcase their work and my work is always the most fun event. I’m currently 3D modeling a space for us so we can hold it virtually this semester. I’m doing it in my free time; I’m not doing it paid or part of any job. It’s something I know how to do and can donate. It’s just so important for students to have this kind of culmination for all their hard work. They create all this amazing work, and they have to be able to somehow show it.

������ Tri-Cities also has a lot of mentors who helped me navigate the higher education world and the art world. I grew up in a rural area. There were zero galleries. Neither of my parents graduated from college, but they have been so supportive of my journey in higher education. I couldn’t have done it without them and my professors, who helped me succeed inside and outside the classroom. I think art in general has been a vehicle for self-growth in my professional, personal, and academic life. Through video, photography, and painting, I can learn about myself and my community and how I fit into it and I can help other people. Sometimes the things you don’t expect can end up having the most impact and being the most rewarding. Limitation can breed innovation.

������ Tri-Cities digital technology and culture student Kyle Kopta paints from home as part of a fine arts course amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

FUTURE PLANS

I’ve really found a love for marketing. It’s not something I expected to love as much as I do. I came to ������ Tri-Cities putting myself in a box, saying, “I’m going to become a videographer or graphic designer,” but I’ve been awarded so many opportunities to collaborate with so many different ������ departments that I’ve found I have a real love for creating things for the community with other people. My plan now is to get a marketing job. I contemplated whether I should move to a bigger city or stay local, and I think I’ve kind of settled on staying local because it’s really important to me to foster this small but tight-knit arts community. I really want to contribute to the Tri-Cities community what I wish I had growing up in Hermiston.